Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Christmas is the season the Gingerbread Café in Ashford, Connecticut was made for…but owner Lily couldn’t be feeling less merry if she tried. She’s spent another year dreaming of being whisked away on a sleigh-ride for two, but she’s facing festive season alone – again. And, just to give her another reason to feel anything other than candy-cane perky, a new shop across the road has opened… Not only is it selling baked goods, but the owner, with his seriously charming smile, has every girl in town swooning.

But Lily isn’t about to let her business crumble — the Gingerbread Café is the heart of the community, and she’s going to fight for it! This could be the Christmas that maybe, just maybe, all her dreams – even the someone-to-decorate-the-Christmas-tree-with ones – really do come true!The Review:

Lily is not looking forward to another Christmas, single and moping about her ex husband Joel. She's even more upset when the new shop owner over the road begins selling the same goods as her and stealing her customers. Two can play at that game and Lily is ready to steal her customers back, just as soon as she stops staring at his butt.

Rebecca Raisin's books are like old friends, good food and cuddles in front of the fire, all wrapped up in cute as pie romance. I first met the folk of Ashford inThe Bookshop on the Corner, the novella in which I discovered my ultimate book soul-sister in the heroine Sarah.

I didn't relate to Lily as much as I did Sarah, but only because I can't bake. Putting aside my failure as a domestic goddess, Lily is as lovable as all of Rebecca Raisin's characters. It was really fun to reconnect with my old Ashford friends, and to get to know Lily a little better. She's a sweetie. A bit of a lost lamb, still struggling to put her life together after her marriage fell apart. The kind of heroine I want to give a huge hug (before asking if I can have some of the cake she's baking). But she's fiery too, and not willing to let her business, or her pear cheesecake, suffer at the hands of a new comer, no matter how sexy he might be.

Damon is so cheeky. Up to no good, but with the best intentions.... mostly. He's that naughty boy, who's also terribly sexy, with a charming smile letting him get away with anything. I loved his little game with Lily as they fought over customers and flirted with each other.

This is a short and sweet, small town romance - the sex is closed-door, but there is definite chemistry between Lily and Damon. It's also got Rebecca Raisin's fabulous sense of humor, often courtesy of Lily's friend CeeCee, who is probably my favorite character in the book.

Christmas at the Gingerbread Café is Book One in the Gingerbread Café series, though it can be read as a standalone, and has a HFN ending, that made me all ooey gooey happy like the insides of a cream bun... or a jam doughnut....

Ahem... yeah...

My only regret in reading this book is that I didn't have appropriate sustenance on hand to get me through. Like all the best cake lit, Christmas at the Gingerbread Café should be read with cake at hand! As it was, I gorged myself on a family sized block of chocolate, while fantasizing about cakes, tarts, and, of course, gingerbread.